军事Janes+简氏美国空军-兵器

United States - Air Force United States - Air Force Jane's World Air Forces Date Posted: 19-Dec-2007 HYPERLINK "javascript:goBookmark('" \l "toclink-j0011040007713')" Summary Assessment Deployments, tasks and operations      Role and Deployment      Recent and Current Operations Command and control Organisation      HQ US Air Force      Air Combat Command (ACC)      Air Education and Training Command (AETC)      Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC)      Air Force Space Command (AFSPC)      Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC)      Air Mobility Command (AMC)      Air Force Cyberspace Command      Air Force ISR Command      Pacific Air Forces (PACAF)      US Air Forces Europe (USAFE)      Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC)      Order of Battle      Operational Art and Tactical Doctrine      Bases Training Air Force procurement      Combat Aircraft      F-15E ASEA Upgrade      Helicopters      Multi-Role Tanker Transport      KC-135 Tanker Maintenance      AFSOC Combat Tanker Transport      Airlift      Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)      UAV/UCAV      Weapons & Missiles      Space Equipment in service      Fixed Wing      Rotary Wing      Unmanned Aerial Vehicles      Missiles Summary            TOP STRENGTH 352,000 BOMBER B-1B; B-2A; B-52H MULTIROLE FIGHTER F-15E; F-16C INTERCEPTOR F-15A/C; F-22A GROUND ATTACK F-117A; A-10A/C; AC-130 TRANSPORT C-5; C-17; C-130 TANKER/TRANSPORT KC-10A; KC-135, HC-130 RECONNAISSANCE/INTELLIGENCE GATHERING/AIRBORNE EARLY WARNING RC-135; E-3; E-8; U-2 HELICOPTER UH-1; MH-53; HH-60 TRAINER T-1; T-6; T-37; T-38; T-43 COMMUNICATIONS C-9; C-12; C-20; C-21; VC-25; C-26; C-32; C-37; C-40 Assessment            TOP The United States Air Force (USAF) is the best trained, best equipped and most capable air force in the world. However, numerous challenges on many fronts are causing significant anxiety in a service otherwise accustomed to enjoying near universal political clout, professional authority, public admiration and solid funding. As a result, the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Michael Moseley is fully engaged with developing and promoting new doctrine and reshaping air force attitudes to address current and emerging global requirements, while competing with the other services for scarce funding to replace aging aircraft and systems. The Air Force Strategic Plan 2006-2008, released in October 2006, stresses how the service will combat current and emerging threats and describes the air force mission as maintaining a variety of airpower assets to meet both conventional and asymmetric threats. Given the wide range of these threats, Moseley believes the air force needs to maintain the ability to conduct surveillance and attack targets anywhere in the world. "I have to be able to either continue surveillance, hold at risk, or strike anywhere on the surface of the earth. I have to be able to command and control these activities and I have to be able to assess the effects in a global setting." The civilian head, Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne, recognises that long-held desires to build a futuristic US Air Force are necessarily on hold because of the need to modernise existing capabilities. "Dreams of connectivity have to be down the road because right now it just can't compete with the basic need to recapitalise." Wynne's current challenge is finding the money to replenish an ageing fleet - with an average age of 25 years - while meeting relentless demands for close air support and airlift from US ground forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. He estimates that fleet modernisation will cost USD20 billion a year for several years. On top of budget pressures, Wynne is working to restore congressional faith in the air force's ability to manage major procurement programmes after Congress withdrew acquisition authority from 2005 to 2006 following the air force's mishandling of a contract to lease Boeing 767 tankers. His solution is to focus on replacing basic assets, such as tankers, helicopters, fighters and cargo aircraft. Gone is the heavy emphasis on space-based systems and unmanned aircraft that predominated during the US military's 'transformational' years under former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Instead, Secretary Wynne is asking for an expanded order of F-22A Raptor fighter aircraft and more C-17 cargo aircraft to keep the production line open. One of the most important innovations to evolve since 2001 is providing USAF ground controllers to ground forces in combat. Known as Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs), they are armed with laptops and secure data links that can exchange live video imagery and data with pilots in the cockpits of attack jets and bombers. The air force is rushing the video display systems, known as Remote Operated Video Enhanced Receiver systems, to both Iraq and Afghanistan, and commanders in the field report the systems are helping to satisfy an insatiable need for more situational awareness, particularly on urban battlefields. Another important innovation is the creation of a new Air Force Cyberspace Command to manage firewalls and authenticate venues where air force data is exchanged to ensure operations are not corrupted by hackers, criminals or adversaries. The role of Cyberspace Command is critical because the USAF has become a "trusted shooter" and must be able to assure aircrew dropping weapons and "customers" that information receive in the cockpit is authentic and has not been tampered with. The air force must also ensure that machine-to-machine connections remain secure, such as those that identify an incoming missile and alert the interceptor launched to destroy it. Another aspect of air force efforts to boost support for ground forces is the continued development of precision weapons, such as the Focused Lethality Munition, an upgrade to the 250 lb (113 kg) GBU Small Diameter Bomb designed to further reduce the collateral damage area. Despite the sharp focus on operational goals, the USAF is strained and needs more money, according to Secretary Wynne. "The air force is simply not funded to do everything that everybody wants us to do." Funding for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is under near constant threat, the order book for F-22 Raptors remains fixed at 184 for the time being, and to preserve vital funds for the much-needed next-generation KC-X Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), the air force has opted to accept the end of C-17 Globemaster strategic transport aircraft production in 2009. Yet, despite these pressures, the air force remains committed to fielding a new long-range bomber as early as 2018. By 2025 the fighter fleet will be based on the enhanced capabilities of the F-22 and F-35 in numbers considerably less than the F-15s and F-16s they will replace, while the elderly KC-135 tankers of today will be long gone, replaced by fewer, but much more capable MRTTs. Relying on a smaller force has sparked scepticism and debate inside and outside the air force, with many critics stating that numbers do matter. A smaller fighting force, no matter how capable, can still be outnumbered and defeated by anti-air threats, just as smaller numbers of tankers and airlifters will mean fewer deployable assets due to maintenance, training, fleet positioning and crewing requirements. While visionary leaders may be struggling with how to build the future air force, the reality today is a force at war serving primarily as an airlift and Close Air Support (CAS) provider to land and Special Operations Forces (SOF) in drawn-out global counter-insurgency operations. Escalating counterinsurgency requirements are causing sceptics in Congress and elsewhere to question the ultimate value of extremely expensive, highly advanced modern aircraft, with many representatives and senators much less willing to accept traditional assurances from the air force leadership. The air force response is a vociferous campaign to convince Congress that air dominance is still relevant and vitally important to national defence. Air force advocates regularly argue that increasingly capable high-tech air threats, such as new Russian aircraft and air defence systems in the hands of China and Iran, demand more effective air platforms like the expensive F-22 and the problematic F-35. Beyond Iraq and Afghanistan, the prospect of military action to disrupt suspected nuclear weapons activities in Iran and North Korea has re-ignited long-standing controversies over the effectiveness of strategic air campaigns and reopened historic differences among the services. Many senior air force leaders continue to believe that modern airpower alone is capable of sufficiently damaging dispersed and hardened nuclear facilities, while senior army and marine corps officers fear that air attacks on their own are insufficient and lead inexorably to major land campaigns requiring significant levels of national mobilisation and public support, neither of which are likely to materialise post-Iraq. Nevertheless efforts are underway, principally within the USAF, with some support from the navy and the SOF community, to ensure that capabilities are available to conduct strategic air campaigns if required. These include advanced Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) for targeting both air defence and nuclear infrastructure and for Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) and re-targeting between strikes. Other efforts address weaponry, such as developing conventional deep earth penetrating munitions, along with long-range Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) assets to recover downed aircrew. US Air Force officials issued an order in December 2007 to end a gradual return to service of A through to D models of the F-15 Eagle, three weeks after grounding the entire fleet of nearly 700 F-15 aircraft. All F-15 models were grounded after an F-15C crashed in Missouri on 2 November 2007, sparking a debate in the US Congress about the need to buy more F-22 Raptor air superiority fighters to replace the ageing F-15 fleet. F-15E inspections focused on certain parts of the airframe, including hydraulic system lines, fuselage longerons (moulded metal strips of aircraft fuselage that run from front to back) and the straps and skin panels in and around the environmental control system bay. The targeted inspections were developed by air force engineers based on preliminary findings from the F-15C crash and the F-15E is the first model to come back into service. Deployments, tasks and operations            TOP Role and Deployment            TOP The official role of the USAF is to ensure the defence of the United States of America and protection of its global interests. To achieve that mission, the USAF entertains a vision of Global Vigilance, Reach and Power. The air force strives to fulfil the following six core capabilities, while undertaking any military operation: ​ Air and Space Superiority: By achieving air superiority over any battlefield, joint forces can dominate enemy operations in all dimensions -- land, sea, air and space. ​ Global Attack: Thanks to technological advances and extended reach, the air force is in a position to attack anywhere, with tactical precision, in order to carry out a mission. ​ Rapid Global Mobility: The ability to respond quickly and decisively anywhere it is needed is key to maintaining rapid global mobility. ​ Precision Engagement: The essence lies in the ability to apply selective force against specific targets because the nature and variety of future contingencies demand both precise and reliable use of military power with minimal risk and low collateral damage. ​ Information Superiority: Providing joint force commanders with the most recent information and incorporating it into an ongoing campaign plan. ​ Agile Combat Support: Deployment and sustainment are key to successful operations. Agile combat support applies to all forces, from those permanently based to contingency build-ups and expeditionary forces. Recent and Current Operations            TOP Iraq USAF operations in Iraq are centred on Balad Air Base, 42 miles north of Baghdad, home of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing. Balad is the busiest single runway operation in the US Department of Defence (DoD), and second in the world only to Heathrow airport in London. The 332nd controls five groups at Balad and four more dispersed at Ali Air Base, Kirkuk Air Base, Al Asad Air Base and Sather Air Base (Baghdad International Airport). The operations group at Balad consists of single squadrons operating F-16 fighters, C-130 transports, MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and HH-60 CSAR helicopters. A squadron of A-10 attack jets is located at Al Asad. Iraq has been a perplexing professional challenge for the air force and promises even greater hazards in the months and even years ahead as US ground forces hand over responsibilities to Iraqis and airpower becomes the primary means to apply American firepower. Since the summer of 2003, the Iraq conflict has been a population-based insurgency, severely altering and limiting the air force's role in ways the service failed to prepare for. There are few targets worthy of 1,000 or 2,000 pound Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) and many of those that were delivered resulted in civilian deaths and collateral damage that helped fuel the insurgency. As ground movement became ever more restricted by insurgent activity, including complex Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and ambushes, intra-theatre airlift became the safest means to move people and cargo within the country. Consequently, C-130 transport aircraft quickly surpassed F-16s in tactical value. Eventually, smaller 500 pound PGMs became available even as conditions changed, with insurgents controlling more terrain, particularly cities and towns such as Falluja and Ramadi, bringing renewed conventional combat between insurgents and US ground troops, thereby increasing the need for tactical CAS. The successful air strike on the leader of Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, in June 2006, highlighted the increasingly important role of CAS in Iraq, including a dramatic increase in the number of sorties delivering ordnance. Ongoing surge operations to secure Baghdad and Anbar province have further increased the number of CAS sorties and the probability that strike aircraft will be shot down by more sophisticated insurgents. An F-16 was brought down by a shoulder-launched missile in November 2006 on a CAS mission 32 kilometres north of Baghdad, and others have been shot down by well coordinated ambushes using heavy machine guns and 23 mm Anti-Aircraft (AA) guns. Similarly, the downing of a UK Royal Air Force (RAF) C-130 transport with a manportable Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) in 2006, coupled with the AA threat, has further restricted the flight envelope of transport aircraft considered vital to maintaining the coalition footprint in Iraq. Afghanistan The 455th Air Expeditionary Wing operates from Bagram Air Base north of Kabul providing in-country and theatre airlift with C-130s, CSAR with HH-60 Pave Hawks, and CAS and precision strike capabilities with a number of A-10s and F-15Es. Under a new streamlined organisation and chain of command, US forces now work more closely with NATO. Operationally, Pave Hawks are integrated into the Combined Aviation Task Force Corsair in Kandahar, led by and serving alongside US Army and Australian Army helicopters. External support, including medevac links to Germany, tankers and Airbourne Early Warning and Control Systems (AWACS), operate from Ganci Air Base, Manas, Kyrgyzstan. C-17s fly directly between Europe and Bagram. In 2006, NATO assumed greater responsibility for combat operations against a resurgent Taliban determined to defeat Afghan government and coalition forces, and heavy fighting resumed early in the spring of 2007, requiring numerous air strikes by USAF A-10 and F-15E aircraft, along with Dutch F-16s, RAF Harriers and French Mirages. Command and control            TOP The chain of command of the USAF flows from the Secretary of the Air Force to the Air Force Chief of Staff, to whom the various Major Commanders are responsible. Organisation            TOP The USAF is controlled by Air Force Headquarters (HQAF), led by the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Current Secretary Michael Wynne is responsible for the affairs of the Department of the Air Force, including organising, training and equipping the force. The Chief of Staff, General Michael Moseley, serves as the senior uniformed air force officer responsible for the organisation, training and equipage of more than about 750,000 active-duty, Ai National Guard, Reserve and civilian forces serving in the United States and overseas. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he also functions as a military adviser to the Secretary of Defense, National Security Council and the President. There are nine major commands under control of the HQAF, which all contribute to the operation of the world's largest and most capable air force. A new air intelligence directorate established in March 2007 provides centralised command and control over disparate agencies now responsible for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations. Known as the A2 directorate and headed by Lieutenant General David Deptula, the intent is to build up the air force as a military intelligence asset and to more closely coordinate ISR development and acquisition programmes. While the nerve centre for air intelligence is the Air Intelligence Agency, other ISR programmes are spread across various agencies including Air Combat Command, Air Space Command and Special Operations Command. HQ US Air Force            TOP This unit is responsible for the overall control of the USAF, under the authority of the Secretary of the Air Force. In addition, the Secretary of the Air Force is responsible for the formulation and implementation of programmes that fit into national security policies as outlined by the Secretary of Defense and the President. This office also includes the Air Staff, which encompasses elements such as the Judge Advocate General's Office and the various Deputy Chief's of Staff including Personnel, Logistics and the Scientific Advisory Board. A number of Assistant Secretaries have responsibility for Acquisition, Financial Management, Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Space, Contracting and International Affairs. Air Combat Command (ACC)            TOP Air Combat Command (ACC), based at Langley, Virginia, was brought into existence in 1992. The role of the command is to direct operations of US-based bomber, fighter, and reconnaissance craft. One important task of the command is to provide and manage strategic nuclear forces for the US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) and the five geographic joint commands (US Joint Forces Command, US Central Command, US European Command, US Pacific Command and US Southern Command). ACC is also responsible for maintaining the force readiness necessary for rapid deployment and provides air defence fighters to the North American Air Defence Command (NORAD). The commander of ACC also acts as a component commander in the Joint Forces Command and STRATCOM. Air Combat Command assumed control of selected Air Force Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) assets from Air Force Special Operations Command in April 2006. The intent is to link CSAR directly to the combat Air Expeditionary Forces (AEF) they support, to consolidate the management of limited air force resources and provide greater integration of forces in theatre. Under ACC, CSAR assets will be integrated into combat training activities and tasked to support all AEF rotations. The transfer will affect active-duty and reserve component HC-130s, HH-60 Pave Hawks and most combat rescue officers and para-rescuemen (known as PJs), as well as the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Langley Air Force Base